PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to characterize cell cultures and xenografts derived from patients with ovarian cancer.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Ninety specimens from 67 patients were plated in RPMI 1640 or inoculated in nude mice. Growth characteristics of cell cultures and xenografts were determined. Expression of receptors for estrogen, progesterone, androgen, epithelial growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, HER-2/erbB-2/c-neu proto-oncogene, and the P53 expression were characterized by immunocytochemistry in 28 cell cultures.

RESULTS
Forty-nine percent of samples were cultured successfully in vitro. Ascitic and pleural effusion specimens were more likely to produce a cell culture or a xenograft than solid tissue specimens (P < 0.005). All of the cell cultures had an epithelial morphology, and 89% were aneuploid with a mean DNA index of 1.6 (range, 0.9-3.0). Of 54 and 61 specimens inoculated into nude mice i.p. and s.c., 15 (28%) and 18 (30%) produced a xenograft, respectively, with two-thirds of these xenografts being reproducibly tumorigenic. The median time to first passage was 21 weeks for cell cultures and 8-12 weeks for xenografts. Expression of epithelial growth factor receptor, HER-2/erbB-2/c-neu proto-oncogene, fibroblast growth factor receptor, estrogen, progesterone, and androgen was seen in 24, 21, 31, 17, 43, and 18%, respectively. P53 was overexpressed in 62% of cell cultures analyzed.

CONCLUSIONS
Ovarian cancer cells collected from effusions are easier to grow in vitro than in vivo. The only characteristic that may be associated with tumorigenicity was abnormal P53 expression. This panel of ovarian cancer materials provides useful models for biological or therapeutical studies.


Observations and climate models have shown that the midlatitude eddy-driven jet can exhibit an evident latitudinal shift in response to lower-tropospheric thermal forcing (e.g., the tropical SST warming during El Niño or extratropical SST anomalies associated with the atmosphere–ocean–sea ice coupling). In addition to the direct thermal wind response, the eddy feedbacks—including baroclinic mechanisms, such as lower-level baroclinic eddy generation, and barotropicmechanisms, such as upper-level wave propagation and breaking—can all contribute to the atmospheric circulation response to lower-level thermal forcing, but their individual roles have not been well explained. In this study, using a nonlinear b-plane multilevel quasigeostrophic channel model, the mechanisms throughwhich the lower-level thermal forcing induces the jet shift are investigated. By diagnosing the finite-amplitude wave activity budget, the baroclinic and barotropic eddy feedbacks to the lower-level thermal forcing are delineated. Particularly, by examining the transient circulation response after thermal forcing is switched on, it is shown that the lower-level thermal forcing affects the eddy-driven jet rapidly by modifying the upper-level zonal thermal wind distribution and the associated meridional wave propagation and breaking. The anomalous baroclinic eddy generation, however, acts to enhance the latitudinal shift of the eddy-driven jet only in the later stage of transient response. Furthermore, the barotropic mechanism is explicated by overriding experiments in which the barotropic flow in the vorticity advection is prescribed. Unlike the conventional baroclinic view, the barotropic eddy feedback, particularly the irreversible PVmixing through barotropic vorticity advection and deformation, plays a major role in the atmospheric circulation response to the lower-level thermal forcing.


Nutrition has been widely recognized to have certain levels of influence on the risk of kidney stone formation. Thus, this case-control study was conducted to determine the association of dietary intake and lifestyles factors with kidney stone disease. Sociodemographic data, dietary intake, supplements intake, smoking and alcohol habit, medical history, physical activity and anthropometric data were obtained using interviewer-administered pre-tested questionnaires among 81 patients who had been diagnosed with kidney stone disease and 81 patients without kidney stone disease at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre. The results indicated that body mass index and hip circumference were higher among cases as compared to controls in both men and women (p < 0.05). Energy, macronutrients and micronutrients intake were higher for case subjects compared to control subjects for all significant parameters (p < 0.05). Results showed positive association of kidney stone with consumption of nuts (≥1 time/week) for men and women while consumption of eggs (1-3 times/month) and beans (1-6 times/week) showed positive association for women. Analysis of multivariate found the risk factor among women was diabetes mellitus [Adjusted OR = 27.6 (95% CI = 1.43-53.3)] (p < 0.05). Whilst, plain water intake of at least 6 glasses [Adjusted OR = 0.001 (95% CI = 0.000-0.08)] (p < 0.05) and 8 glasses per day [Adjusted OR = 0.001 (95% CI = 0.000-0.02)] (p < 0.05) reduced the risk among women. The risk factors for men were smoking habits [Adjusted OR = 16.2 (95% CI = 1.29-203)] (p < 0.05), consumption of carbonated drink 1-3 times per month [Adjusted OR = 6.25 (95% CI = 1.04-40.7)] (p < 0.05) and 1-6 times per week [Adjusted OR = 12.5 (95% CI = 1.41-111)] (p < 0.05). Unhealthy dietary and lifestyles factors increased the risk of kidney stone disease and various risk factors were found for different sexes. DOI :  http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JSKM-2017-1501-14


Problem statement: To identify the metabolic reaction-glycolysis or oxidative phosphorylation that is mainly involved in the production of energy required for rat sperm mobilization. Approach: Epididymal sperm were collected from Wistar rats and extended in lactate-containing or lactate-free raffinose-modified Krebs-Ringer Bicarbonate solution (mKRB)-egg yolk medium supplemented with 0, 1, 2, or 3 mM 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose (2 DG) and 1, 2, or 3 mM sodium Oxamate (OX). Sperm motility, straight-line velocity (VSL) and oxygen consumption were evaluated. Further, immunofluorescent localization of Lactate Dehydrogenase C (LDH-C) in sperm was also performed. Results: Low concentrations of 2DG (1 and 2 mM) did not significantly affect motility, VSL and oxygen consumption of sperm extended in the lactate-containing medium. While sperm motility and oxygen consumption were significantly inhibited by even 1mM 2DG in sperm extended in lactate-free medium. Sperm motility significantly inhibited in the case of sperm extended in lactate-containing and free-medium with 1 mM OX. We also found that sperm motility was not maintained in the absence of lactate throughout the 3 h incubation period. Immunofluorescence study revealed that mainly LDH-C was may be localized in the intramitochondrial region of the sperm. Conclusion: These results suggest that exogenous lactate enhances lactate oxidation by LDH-C, thereby promoting mitochondrial oxidative reactions in the midpiece and maintaining the mobilization of rat epididymal sperm.


Trophic structure and resilience of regional benthic food webs were studied on the Alaska Beaufort Sea shelf across 3 geographic regions (east, central, and west) and 2 depth ranges (14 to 90 m (shallow) and 100 to 220 m (deep)). Carbon (δ 13 C) and nitrogen (δ 15 N) isotope ratios were measured from water column and sediment particulate organic matter (POM) as markers of primary food sources and from common benthic invertebrate taxa. Isotopic niche space (δ 13 C� δ 15 N) occupied by benthic taxa provided measures of community-wide trophic redundancy and separation. δ 13 C values of the water column and sediment POM were patchy but generally indica- tive of terrestrial input across the shelf, especially near the mouth of the Colville River (< �25.5‰). Food web structures in the shallow and deep western Beaufort regions, however, reflected marine carbon inputs, with most consumers occupying intermediate trophic levels (TLs) and food webs of intermediate trophic redundancy and separation relative to the other regions. In the central shal- low and east regions, the terrestrial carbon found in sediments was mirrored in consumer tissues. The central deep region contained the highest proportions of higher TL taxa, particularly within the predator feeding guild, possibly reflecting resource partitioning of a limited prey spectrum. The comparatively large isotopic niche space in the central deep region, with high trophic niche separation but low trophic redundancy, suggests that this region may be most vulnerable to per- turbations. This study provides a valuable new understanding of benthic food web dynamics in the understudied Alaska Beaufort Sea region and represents a baseline for future comparison.


In this paper, the authors build a model that predicts the grade point from a collection of independent variables including student characteristics and exam marks achieved in four marketing management courses using data from four courses. The data from four courses in marketing management, for an off-line class in a master's in business management program taught in 2019 and the same set of four courses in marketing management taught to an on-line class in 2020 was taken. Although the number of students enrolled was almost equal, and the courses, despite being offered a year apart, were nearly comparable in structure and content, the teaching and assessment for 2019 was conducted offline, whereas it was conducted online in 2020. In the set of four courses offered in 2019 using the offline mode, the exam was proctored and offline but for the same courses offered in 2020, the final exam was also proctored but online. The authors predicted that if exams were taken without any misconduct, the prediction model would have the same explanatory power for all exams, and that if there was malpractice, the explanatory power would be lower. Their findings show that the two datasets are similar; there are variations in the independent variables that statistically and significantly predicted the Grade Point Average (GPA). The R-squared statistic suggests that the model for prediction is strong. Hence there is reason to believe that malpractice was taking place when the examinations were online, in spite of it being proctored. The goal of this paper is to provide teachers with practical ideas for administering proctored tests in their online courses.


The stabilization of the ratio of P to S energy in the multiple scattering regime was first predicted theoretically by Weaver (1982) and has been recently observed in the high-frequency coda of earthquakes by Shapiro et al. (2000). The goal of this note is to extend previous theoretical results to the case where anelasticity is present in the medium. Our study demonstrates that even if there is preferential absorption of one of the modes ( P or S ), a stabilization occurs in the multiple scattering regime. The new equilibrium ratio is shifted in favor of the mode that is least absorbed but rarely differs by more than 15% from the ratio predicted for purely elastic media.


Purpose: Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is believed common after systemic antibiotic therapy, yet few studies demonstrate this association. In this pilot study, we evaluate the effect of short-course oral antibiotic use on VVC. Methods: Nonpregnant women aged 18 to 64 years who required ≥3 days oral antibiotics for nongynecological diseases were recruited from a family medicine office. Age-matched (±5 years) women seen in the same clinic for noninfectious problems were recruited as controls. The main outcomes are incidence of symptomatic VVC and prevalence of positive vaginal Candida culture 4 to 6 weeks after antibiotics. Results: Eighty (44 in antibiotic group) women were recruited; 14 of 79 (95% CI, 0.11–0.28) had asymptomatic vaginal Candida cultures positive at baseline. During follow-up, 10 of 27 (95% CI, 0.22–0.56) women in antibiotic group were Candida culture positive. In contrast, 3 of 27 (95% CI, 0.04–0.28) women in the control group were Candida culture positive (relative risk, 3.33; P = .03). Meanwhile, 6 of 27 (95% CI, 0.11–0.41) women in antibiotic group developed symptomatic VVC whereas none (95% CI, 0–0.12) of the women in the control group developed vaginal symptoms (relative risk, ∞; P = .02). Baseline Candida culture did not predict subsequent symptomatic VVC after antibiotics. Conclusion: In this pilot study, the use of short courses of oral antibiotics seems to increase prevalence of asymptomatic vaginal Candida colonization and incidence of symptomatic VVC. Larger cohort studies are needed to confirm these findings.


Apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was prevented by transfection with the gene for the human full-length peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha), or acyl-coenzyme A synthetase (AcylCS) into HUVECs. In contrast, ligands/activators of PPARgamma 1 induced apoptosis by a cytochrome c-dependent mechanism in HUVECs transfected with human full-length PPARgamma 1, but not in hepatocytes. Co-transfection of PPARgamma 1 and PPARalpha protected the HUVEC apoptosis. The results suggest that the apoptosis of endothelial cells may be mediated by genes of PPARgamma1 and PPARalpha.


Abstract A previously healthy and developmentally normal 5-year-old boy from Saudi Arabia presented with a 3 mo history of abnormal behavior in the form of hyperactivity, decreased social engagement, episodic aggressiveness, decreased cognitive performance in school, inappropriate laughter and talking to himself, insomnia, tics and other stereotyped behaviors. His clinical neurological examination did not reveal any focal neurological deficits, but a prolonged electroencephalogram showed non-specific slowing over the right hemisphere. A diagnosis of encephalopathy was entertained, and he underwent testing for infectious, toxic, metabolic and mitochondrial disorders. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and cerebrospinal fluid studies were all normal. However, a comprehensive evaluation of paraneoplastic antibodies from cerebrospinal fluid demonstrated the presence of antibodies against the alpha-3 subunit of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, a finding also documented by tests from two different laboratories. An extensive diagnostic investigation that included a fludeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography scan for malignancies showed negative results. The patient was treated with plasmapheresis treatments (five exchanges) that resulted in a significant improvement in his clinical picture. Following his initial treatments, the patient continued to receive monthly infusions of intravenous immunoglobulin. An evaluation at 5.5 mo after initiation of first treatment revealed a considerable improvement of his behavior and language abilities. The patient returned to his school where he has performed satisfactorily. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a child who developed sub-acute cognitive and neurobehavioral regression in association with the presence of a serum antibody to a neuronal ganglionic nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and who improved after immunotherapy.


Real-world data can be multimodal distributed, e.g., data describing the opinion divergence in a community, the interspike interval distribution of neurons, and the oscillators natural frequencies. Generating multimodal distributed real-world data has become a challenge to existing generative adversarial networks (GANs). For example, neural stochastic differential equations (Neural SDEs), treated as infinite-dimensional GANs, have demonstrated successful performance mainly in generating unimodal time series data. In this paper, we propose a novel time series generator, named directed chain GANs (DC-GANs), which inserts a time series dataset (called a neighborhood process of the directed chain or input) into the drift and diffusion coefficients of the directed chain SDEs with distributional constraints. DC-GANs can generate new time series of the same distribution as the neighborhood process, and the neighborhood process will provide the key step in learning and generating multimodal distributed time series. The proposed DC-GANs are examined on four datasets, including two stochastic models from social sciences and computational neuroscience, and two real-world datasets on stock prices and energy consumption. To our best knowledge, DC-GANs are the first work that can generate multimodal time series data and consistently outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks with respect to measures of distribution, data similarity, and predictive ability.


The HIV-1 Rev protein localizes predominantly to the nucleolus of HIV-1-infected or Rev-expressing cells. The subcellular location of Rev during mitotic nucleolar disintegration was examined at various stages of mitosis in synchronized Rev-expressing CMT3 cells. During early prophase Rev was predominantly located in disintegrating nucleoli and began to accumulate at the peripheral regions of chromosomes in late prophase, eventually distributing uniformly on all chromosomes in prometaphase. In anaphase Rev remained associated with the perichromosomal regions, but significant amounts of Rev were also seen in numerous nucleolus-derived foci. The movement of Rev from disintegrating nucleoli to perichromosomal regions and foci was similar to that of nonribosomal nucleolar proteins, including fibrillarin, nucleolin, protein B23 and p52 of the granular component. During telophase Rev remained associated with perichromosomal regions and mitotic foci until the nuclear envelope started to reform. When nuclear envelope formation was complete in late telophase, nonribosomal nucleolar proteins were present in prenucleolar bodies (PNBs) which were eventually incorporated into nucleoli; at the same time, Rev was excluded from nuclei. In contrast, a trans-dominant negative Rev protein containing an inactive nuclear export signal reentered nuclei by the nonribosomal nucleolar protein pathway in late telophase, associating with PNBs and reformed nucleoli. Rev protein reentry into postmitotic nuclei was delayed until early G1 phase, but before the arrival of ribosomal protein S6. Thus, Rev behaves like a nonribosomal nucleolar protein through mitosis until early telophase; however, its nuclear reentry seems to require reestablishment of both a nuclear import system and active nucleoli.


An analysis of the methods of testing the antiviral activity in vitro (in cell cultures) and in vivo (in experimental virus infections) is presented. The necessity of applying two-stage screening in vitro is emphasized. The chemotherapeutic viral models is in vitro testing as well as the principles of modelling of experimental viral infections are examined. Criteria for stage-by-stage assessment of the antiviral activity of the substances tested are formulated.


This paper presents the first prototype of Multipath Ad-hoc Data Network (MADN) a clean slate protocol for ad-hoc wireless content distribution. Inspired by the recent advances on Information Centric Networking (ICN), MADN is namely a pull-based protocol that emphasizes on seamless route redundancy and multi-path data delivery. It is complementary to the former IP protocol and therefore does not implement primitives for machine-to-machine communication. In consideration of targeting specifically the wireless medium, it uses rateless encoded data packets to counterbalance packet loss and to benefit from multi-source data distribution. A major difference between MADN and previous works is the use of the BlooGo algorithm in place of the conventional routing protocols - e.g. random walks, landmarks or coordinate spaces. The main advantages of using BlooGo is that it delivers the packets in considerably less hops while it maintains alternative routes open as backup of the shortest ones. This paper serves two aims, firstly it proposes a new protocol for multipath content distribution in ad-hoc environments, secondly it presents its architecture and how this interfaces with the final applications. Ultimately, the implementation is intentionally kept modular in order to facilitate deploying and evaluation of new solutions and new configurations - e.g. different caching algorithms or different types of Erasure Codes - without major refactoring of the codebase.


In this paper, the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) problem for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is investigated. The variations in the nature of the problem along with the utilization of water-filling technique are observed and the corresponding cumulative distribution function for PAPR is determined. In addition to OFDM analysis, another analysis is carried out for the comparison of water-filling technique and an equal power distribution algorithm in case of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) system and the same PAPR problem is examined in the spatial diversity scenario as well.


Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft is an exploration of witchcraft in the literature of Britain and America from the 16th and 17th centuries through to the present day. As well as the themes of history and literature (politics and war, genre and intertextuality), the book considers issues of national identity, gender and sexuality, race and empire, and more. The complex fascination with witchcraft through the ages is investigated, and the importance of witches in the real world and in fiction is analysed.
The book begins with a chapter dedicated to the stories and records of witchcraft in the Renaissance and up until the English Civil War, such as the North Berwick witches and the work of the 'Witch Finder Generall' Matthew Hopkins. The significance of these accounts in shaping future literature is then presented through the examination of extracts from key texts, such as Shakespeare's Macbeth and Middleton's The Witch, among others. In the second half of the book, the focus shifts to a consideration of the Romantic rediscovery of Renaissance witchcraft in the eighteenth century, and its further reinvention and continued presence throughout the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including the establishment of witchcraft studies as a subject in its own right, the impact of the First World War and end of the British Empire on witchcraft fiction, the legacy of the North Berwick, Hopkins and Salem witch trials, and the position of witchcraft in culture, including filmic and televisual culture, today.
Equipped with an extensive list of primary and secondary sources, Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft is essential reading for all students of witchcraft in modern British and American culture and early modern history and literature.


Abstract Managerial devices are rapidly developing as a means for driving the legal performance of organisations, including those of states and corporations. This paper explores the managerial rationality underpinning global legal indicators, and the constraints they convey on institutional behaviour. In particular, it argues that indicators are better understood as part of a system of management control and distributed governance, which is steadily eroding state-centred forms of authority, including state law. In this context, legitimacy and reactivity are contingent to their cycle of production and implementation, which is fourfold: data-collecting, benchmarking, auditing and allocating incentives. Each process is meant to generate respectively subjectification, self-knowledge by comparison, accountability and stimulus for action. Indicators with higher degrees of legitimacy become entrenched in institutional practices and legal decision-making processes. The paper concludes that regulatory spaces where indicators unfold need critical and political scrutiny to expose their pernicious effects, undesirable uses and inevitable misuses.


The Late Devonian mass extinction was unusually protracted and ecologically selective, with preferential diversity losses among reefbuilding organisms and tropical, shallow-water faunas in general. We have investigated the link between the extinction's unique characteristics and changes in biogeochemical cycling through analyses of the δ 13 C and C:N:P atomic ratios of organic matter buried across the Kellwasser Horizons in western New York State. Each horizon is characterized by (1) a long-term, + 4‰–5‰ excursion in δ 13 C, ~3‰ of which occurs within the horizon, and (2) a dramatic increase in the burial ratios of C:N:P, from values of ~100:15:1 to an average of ~5000:170:1. On the basis of these results, we propose that (1) increased efficiency of biolimiting nutrient recycling, resulting from cyclic water column stratification and mixing, promoted eutrophication during Kellwasser deposition in New York, and (2) the isotope excursions represent the composite effect of long-term, global organic C burial, and local changes in photosynthetic C isotope fractionation related to nutrient availability. This eutrophication model forges a mechanistic link between proposed Late Devonian climatic cooling and the selective demise of taxa likely to have been narrowly adapted to oligotrophic conditions.


Abstract The insulin-sensitising adipose hormone adiponectin is reduced in type 2 diabetic patients. We assessed the relationships between plasma adiponectin and chronic hyperglycaemia. Adiponectin levels and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) were measured at enrolment and after 90 days in 16 patients with type 2 diabetes aged (mean ± SEM) 63.0±0.6 years, with body mass index (BMI) 30.2±0.5 kg/m2 and HbA1c concentration 7.4± 0.1%, who did not modify their hypoglycaemic treatment during the observation period. Furthermore, plasma adiponectin was measured in 29 adult patients with type 1 diabetes and compared with 29 control subjects matched for sex, age, BMI, waist circumference and bioimpedance-estimated fat mass. In type 2 diabetic patients at enrolment, adiponectin concentration correlated with BMI (r = −0.46; p < 0.05), but not with HbA1c. During the prospective observation, variations of adiponectin showed a significant correlation with variations of BMI (r = −0.47; p < 0.01), but not with variations of HbA1c concentration. These results were confirmed by multivariate analysis after adjustment for sex and age. Adiponectin levels in type 1 diabetic patients (380.8±13.7 ng/ml in women, 192.5±13.9 ng/ml in men) were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than in control subjects (277.6±11.0 ng/ml in women, 102.7±5.1 ng/ml in men); plasma adiponectin correlated significantly with BMI and waist circumference, but not with HbA1c. In conclusion, the reduction of plasma adiponectin levels in type 2 diabetic patients does not appear to be determined by chronic hyperglycaemia. Adiponectin levels are increased in type 1 diabetes, but this phenomenon is not attributable to differences in nutritional status or body composition.l21


Interpersonal violence cases in Malaysia has been inclined tremendously. Sadly, it is hard to make Malaysians aware of these dangers resulted by their behaviors. The attention to the issue reduce when writers and editors the issue from their reportage. Hence, there is a need to supply more knowledge to pull the attention on this social problem. The objectives of this research are to study the framing of issues, source and tone of news used in interpersonal violence coverage in selected Malaysian online newspaper. Quantitative content analysis analyzed 255 news articles from two selected Malaysian online newspapers using Krecjie and Morgan table. Simple random sampling selected the articles from Hmetro.com.my and Thestar.com.my. Pilot test and Holsti test tested the reliability. Non-parametric analysis tested the hypothesis and the objectives of this research. Chi-square statistical hypothesis found the association between the independent and dependent variable of this study, which is online newspaper and media agenda. From this research, media played as a vital role as the agenda setter in making Malaysian aware on the criticality of interpersonal violence issue among Malaysian society.


Natural gas marketing has considerably evolved since the early 1990s, when a set of liberalizing rules were passed in both the United States and the European Union that eliminated state-driven regulations in favor of open energy markets. These new rules changed many things in the business of energetics, and therefore new research opportunities arose. Econometric studies about natural gas emerged as an important area of study since natural gas may now be sold and traded in a number of stock markets, each one responding to potentially different behavioral drives. In this work, we present a method to differentiate sets of time series based on a regression model relating price, consumption, supply, and other factors. Our objective is to develop a method to classify different areas, regions, or states into groups or classes that share similar regression parameters. Once obtained, these groups may be used to make assumptions about corresponding natural gas prices in further studies.


Extended Abstract Modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been heralded as a key enabler of more integrated, flexible, network forms of organizing, thereby promoting the " free and unfettered exchange of information across boundaries " and inspiring " the transformation of all types of institutions " (Conference Theme, ICIS 2004). In this paper, we critically examine such claims and suggest that optimistic proclamations about the transformative potential of ICTs need to be approached with great caution. By drawing on evidence from an in-depth, longitudinal, interpretive study of the strategic use of IT within the Irish credit union movement, we point to the dangers of popular assumptions about the promise of ICT-enabled strategic change and the ease with which it may be achieved. While various economic and technological factors had contributed to the emergence of an impetus for organizational reform and modernization in some quarters within the movement, the realization of such changes was complicated by historically constituted contradictions and ideological differences. IT, however, appeared to offer a relatively painless solution to such problems by promising the prospect of significant organizational change without substantial institutional reform. Here, we argue that the allure of unproblematic and flexible IT-enabled organizational integration encouraged credit unions to embark on a disastrous implementation effort while conveniently ignoring fundamental contradictions within the movement. Interestingly, while the implementation attempt was unanimously regarded as a costly failure, the process associated with its development and demise brought the contentious issue of reform to a head. The result seems likely to be a significant transformation in the organization of the movement. Paradoxically, the failure of the strategic implementation effort triggered this transformation by accident rather than by design.


A simplified cryotherapy technique for the treatment of trichiasis and distichiasis is described. The success rate of aberrant lash ablation with one treatment was 82%; this was increased to 95% with a repeat treatment. There have been minimal long-term side effects. This paper shows that a simplified time-based technique without the use of a thermocouple has produced results similar to other series using thermocouple control. A nitrous oxide cryo unit was used in a double freeze-thaw cycle to treat the area of aberrant lash growth. The times in the double freeze-thaw cycle found to be effective were 45 seconds freezing with a four-minute thaw in the first cycle and a repeat freezing cycle of 45 seconds' duration.


Phylogenetic analysis of fifteen higher taxa (subfamilies and tribes) with hypothetical ancestor as outgroup reveal the relationships: Ancestor + [Myrmosinae + (Kudakrumiinae + {Pseudophotopsidinae + (Ticoplinae + [{Rhopalomutillinae + [(Ephutinae + Dasylabrinae) + Sphaeropthalminae]} + (Myrmillinae + Mutillinae)])})]. A tree generated from fifteen higher taxa and hypothetical ancestor based on 71 "best" from 89 analysed characters by PAUP yielded a length of 196 steps, CI of 0.62, RI of 0.81 and HI of 0.38. The family Mutillidae divided into ten subfamilies. The morphological evolution of Mutillidae related with loss of freely articulated pronotum and formation of mesosomal lorica in female, reduction of eye pubescense, moving of venation to the wing base, formation of RS2 vein in forewing, strength of hamuli system of wings, formation and complication of metasomal felt lines in both sexes, shorten of gastral sternum 7 in male. Among the family the lower mutillids (Myrmosinae, Kudakrumiinae, Pseudophotopsidinae, Ticoplinae) and higher mutillids with two branches [(Myrmillinae + Mutillinae) + (Rhopalomutillinae + Dasylabrinae + Ephutinae + Sphaeropthalminae)] are separated. The classification of 224 described genera and subgenera in subfamilies and tribes is given. New classification of Ephutinae (Odontomutillini + Ephutini) and Mutillinae (Mutillini + Trogaspidiini + Petersenidiini, stat. n. + Smicromyrmini) is proposed.


Particulate organic matter (OM) and surface area-limited sands are associated with soil water repellency (SWR) in turfgrass systems. The increasing ubiquity of amended sand rootzones warrants investigation of factors contributing to SWR. Our objective was to identify how amendment type and/or inclusion rate affect rootzone SWR over a range of irrigation regimes. A U.S. Golf Association-specified sand was amended with dried turfgrass roots and either sphagnum peat moss (SPM), reed sedge peat (RSP), bio-solid compost (BSC), or calcined clay (CC) at 0, 0.1, or 0.2 m 3 m- 3 . Mixes were saturated, gravitationally drained, incubated under isothermal ventilation having mean vapor pressures of 1.78, 2.19, or 2.45 kPa, and reirrigated when matric tension exceeded 300 kPa. After 138 d, rootzone subsamples were eluted of particulate OM before measuring mineral-adsorbed hydrocarbon content (MAHC) by infrared spectroscopy. The repellency index was used to quantify SWR of intact (Rintact) and eluted (R eluted ) samples. Amendment rate (0.2 > 0.1 > 0 m 3 m -3 ) and type (BSC > RSP = SPM > CC) significantly affected R intact . Only CC-amended rootzones were more wettable than the control. Severely elevated R eluted and MAHC were observed in all sands amended by BSC. Inclusion of SPM or RSP at 0.1 m 3 m -3 resulted in R eluted and MAHC values statistically equivalent to the control rootzone. At 0.2 m 3 m- 3 inclusion, all organic amendments significantly increased R eluted and MAHC relative to the control (BSC > RSP = SPM).


She went on to say that if I knew of any interested persons or suitable properties the WRVS would be glad to respond. Inquiries about endowments or gifting of properties should be addressed to the Secretary, WRVS Trustees Ltd, 17 Old Park Lane, London W1Y 4AJ. Large scale development of this priceless voluntary effort is surely the light at the end of the tunnel; and the devotion and dedication of the WRVS must be encouraged by every conceivable method.


In this paper, we address the question of dynamic net- work provisioning for time-varying traffic rates, with the objective of maximizing the system throughput. We assume that the network is capable of providing bandwidth guaranteed traffic tunnels for an ingress-egress pair and present an approach that (1) updates the tunnel routes and (2) adjusts the tunnel bandwidths, in an incremental, adaptive manner, based on the variations in the incoming traffic. First, we consider a simpler scenario where tunnel routes are fixed, and present an approach for adjusting the tunnel bandwidths dynamically. We show, through simulations, that our dynamic bandwidth assignment algorithm significantly outperforms the optimal static bandwidth provisioning policy, and yields a performance close to that of the optimal dynamic bandwidth provisioning policy. We also propose an adaptive route update algorithm, which can be used in conjunction with our dynamic bandwidth assignment policy, and leads to further improvement in the overall system performance.


This study explores the theoretical work in the articulation of the motivations and conditions for account-giving in isiZulu. In this context, accounts are similar to narratives and can be retained at the level of private reflections or written diary entries or for others to read and refer to from time to time. The account-giving process, according to Waldron (1997), is like a "life in motion" in which individual characters are portrayed as moving through their experiences, dealing with conflicts or problems in their lives and, at the same time, searching for resolutions. It is the quest to understand the major stresses in each individual's mind that is at the core of this study. The why-questions that are the result of the daily experiences of destitution, depression, death, disability, etc. are also addressed here. Narrative accounts form the basis of moral and social events and, as such, stories have two elements through which they are explored. They are explored from the point of view of, firstly, the way in which they are told and, secondly, the way in which they are lived within a social context. These stories follow a historically or culturally based format and, to this effect, Gergen (1994) suggests narrative criteria that constitute a historically contingent narrative form. Narrative forms are linguistic tools that have important social functions to fulfil satisfactorily, such as stability narrative, progressive narrative and regressive narrative. According to Gergen (1994), self-narratives are social processes in which individuals are realised on the personal perspective or experience and, as such, their emotions are viewed as constitutive features of relationship. The self-narratives used and analysed in this study portray the contemporary culture-based elements or segments of a well-formed narrative.


Sunitinib inhibits numerous tyrosine kinase receptors involved in tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastatic invasion. It is indicated in case of metastatic renal carcinomas and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) resistant to imatinib. Prospective and retrospective studies have shown association between use of sunitinib and hypothyroidism affecting more than 50% of patients in some series. More amazing, was the nonvisualisation of thyroid tissue evaluated with thyroid ultrasonography in two cases. Mechanisms of this side effect are not elucidated. Some studies have suggested destructive thyroiditis but no evidence of autoimmunity has been demonstrated. Anti angiogenic effect could be another hypothesis. Recently antithyroperoxidase activity of sunitinib has been demonstrated. Because hypothyroidism is easily accessible to treatment, screening of thyroid abnormalities is mandatory every three months to improve quality of life of these patients. This unique thyroid side effect of sunitinib with the non-visualisation of thyroid suggests a possible and promising antitumor activity in thyroid cancer. © 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits réservés.


1. Broadband connectivity is a key component for the development, adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the economy and in society. Broadband is of strategic importance because of its ability to accelerate the contribution of these technologies to growth and innovation in all sectors of the economy and to social and territorial cohesion. The Commission actively supports the widespread availability of broadband services for all European citizens as laid down in the Lisbon strategy and subsequent Communications ( 1 ).


Human activities over the last three centuries have significantly transformed the Earth's environment, primarily through the conversion of natural ecosystems to agriculture. This study presents a simple approach to derive geographically explicit changes in global croplands from 1700 to 1992. By calibrating a remotely sensed land cover classification data set against cropland inventory data, we derived a global representation of permanent croplands in 1992, at 5 min spatial resolution [Ramankutty and Foley, 1998]. To reconstruct historical croplands, we first compile an extensive database of historical cropland inventory data, at the national and subnational level, from a variety of sources. Then we use our 1992 cropland data within a simple land cover change model, along with the historical inventory data, to reconstruct global 5 min resolution data on permanent cropland areas from 1992 back to 1700. The reconstructed changes in historical croplands are consistent with the history of human settlement and patterns of economic development. By overlaying our historical cropland data set over a newly derived potential vegetation data set, we analyze our results in terms of the extent to which different natural vegetation types have been converted for agriculture. We further examine the extent to which croplands have been abandoned in different parts of the world. Our data sets could be used within global climate models and global ecosystem models to understand the impacts of land cover change on climate and on the cycling of carbon and water. Such an analysis is a crucial aid to sharpen our thinking about a sustainable future.


Noonan Syndrome (NS) is a relatively common genetic disorder with complete penetrance and variable expressivity. More than 80% of NS patients have cardiovascular abnormalities, including malformations and cardiomyopathy. However, the occurrence of left ventricular non compaction (LVNC) in a series of NS patients has not been studied. We present a case series of 6 patients from five families with NS and LVNC. Causative NS mutations were identified in 40% of unrelated patients. LVNC was present as an isolated finding, associated with cardiovascular malformation (CVM), and/ or associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). This is the first series of LVNC in NS reported. Awareness of NS in LVNC is important for management and family based cardiac screening recommendations.


According to the process feature of the coke dry quenching (CDQ), the factors of the destructive mechanism that influence the sequence function properties of the brick were analyzed. The countermeasures have been adopted for the defects of the bricks for CDQ, such as inferior thermal shock stability and short lifetime, etc. In order to search the effect of thermal expansion stress and mechanical load stress on the CDQ, the temperature field and stress field of the flue in the CDQ were analyzed according to the thermal elastic and plastic theory. The Drucker-Prager plasticity model combined with a tension cut-off criterion was described material behavior. All material properties were taken as temperature dependent. The result indicates that the support bracket under high gradient temperature will bring on the highest thermal stress, which is the main reason of fracture of the support bracket. The cycling temperature has the ability to cause repeated crack propagation throughout the whole service period. To solve this problem, the design of the structure, the method of the heat exchange and the properties of the materials will be improved. The obtained results give a good insight into the reasons of material failure and help to find counter-measures for prolonging the lifetime of CDQ.


There is an intimate relationship between the extracellular matrix (ECM) and smooth muscle cells within the airways. Few studies have comprehensively assessed the composition of different ECM components and its regulators within the airway smooth muscle (ASM) in asthma. With the aid of image analysis, the fractional areas of total collagen and elastic fibres were quantified within the ASM of 35 subjects with fatal asthma (FA) and compared with 10 nonfatal asthma (NFA) patients and 22 nonasthmatic control cases. Expression of collagen I and III, fibronectin, versican, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, -2, -9 and -12 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 and -2 was quantified within the ASM in 22 FA and 10 control cases. In the large airways of FA cases, the fractional area of elastic fibres within the ASM was increased compared with NFA and controls. Similarly, fibronectin, MMP-9 and MMP-12 were increased within the ASM in large airways of FA cases compared with controls. Elastic fibres were increased in small airways in FA only in comparison with NFA cases. There is altered extracellular matrix composition and a degradative environment within the airway smooth muscle in fatal asthma patients, which may have important consequences for the mechanical and synthetic functions of airway smooth muscle.


Uniatism and its origins
The author of this article deals with the problem of 'uniatism' in a very broad sense: the origins and the use of this term are discussed, as well as uniatism as a historical phenomenon. In the past 'uniatism' was used by the Roman Catholic Church as a method for reuniting the Eastern Churches. The Orthodox Churches saw it, therefore, as a threat and a handicap in the ecumenical relationship. However, some Orthodox Churches have also tried to 'bring back' the Eastern Catholic Communities to their 'Mother Chruch'. All this is the result of "opposite and exclusive ecclesiologies" which contradict the counciliar ecclesiology of the Ancient Chruch. In our century the attitudes have evolved: the Eastern Communities within the Roman Church are no longer considered as mere 'rites', but they received a new canonical statue. On the other hand, the Orthodox Churches had to recognize the existence of the Eastern Churches united to Rome. In 1987, Pope John Paul II and the ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Dimitrios I, condemned 'proselytism' in a common declaration. In 1993, the International Commission for Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches issued a joint document in Balamand (Lebanon), in which it repeated this condemnation. Although its use of the term 'uniatism' may be confusing, the agreement in itself is an important step forward to solving the problem of the division of the Churches. In order to reach full communion, they have to rediscover the traditional ecclesiology and to regard each other as 'Sister Churches'.


Oriented matroids are combinatorial structures that generalize point configurations, vector configurations, hyperplane arrangements, polyhedra, linear programs, and directed graphs. Oriented matroids have played a key  role in combinatorics, computational geometry, and optimization. This paper surveys prior work and presents an update on the search for bounds on the diameter of the cocircuit graph of an oriented matroid. The motivation for our investigations is the complexity of the simplex method and the criss-cross method.
We review the diameter problem and show the diameter bounds of general oriented matroids reduce to those of uniform oriented matroids. We give the latest exact bounds for oriented matroids of low rank and low corank, and for all oriented matroids with up to nine elements (this part required a large computer-based proof).  For arbitrary oriented matroids, we present an improvement to a quadratic bound of Finschi. Our discussion highlights an old conjecture that states a linear bound for the diameter is possible. On the positive side, we show the conjecture is true for oriented matroids of low rank and low corank, and, verified with computers, for all oriented matroids with up to nine elements. On the negative side, our computer search showed two natural strengthenings of the main conjecture are false.


The book contains excerpts from "Keith Haring's Journals", in which he describes his life and work in Milan, an interview with the gallery manager Salvatore Ala, an essay by the curator which analyses the 1984 exhibition and pinpoints its historical importance for Haring and the city of Milan. At the end of the volume a press review brings back to life the voices of journalists and critics, the atmosphere of the very moment. Clour and black-and-white images accompany the texts, including the photos of the works of art especially created for the exhibition, historical shots of Haring working in the gallery and pictures from the inauguration.


Different schools of thought have emphasized multiples aspects of leadership, preeminently in the western hemisphere for the last decades (Bennis 1959; Greenleaf 1977; Malphus 2003). As China more decisively steps into the global arena through internationalization of its economy and political influence, scholars are only scratching the surface in exploring the pluralistic styles of Chinese indigenous leadership in both national and international organizations where the Chinese play significant leadership roles (Chen and Lee 2008: xv; Zhang, Chen, and Chen, and Ang 2014). Contextual leadership is essential for the healthy development of any organization and that is equally true when it comes to leadership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in China. As Ma and Tsui denote, "traditional philosophical and cultural roots influence the thought patterns and behaviors of all citizens in a community including its leaders. Hence, leadership practices would reflect unique cultural idiosyncrasies even . . . in a rapidly changing context" such as contemporary China (2015:13). Although western leadership schools of thought have increasingly been studied in Chinese academia and their models applied in organizational settings throughout China since the 1980s, there are still several cultural features from traditional Chinese leadership philosophies playing a significant role in the contemporary Chinese leadership landscape. This article explores cultural leadership aspects among the Seventh-day Adventist Church in China, and how those traits impact the church missiologically, followed by a brief summary of strategies for effective mission leadership development.


Software Engineering must face the new challenges imposed by the
Cloud Computing paradigm. New methodologies for software development must
be proposed. For this purpose, this paper presents a specific methodology for collaborative
software development in the Cloud, and then describes the architecture
of Automatic Software Development as a Service (ASDaaS). The goal of
ASDaaS is to popularize software development in the Cloud and make it accessible
to non-IT professionals. In fact, with Cloud Computing and the convergence
toward "Everything as a Service", we no longer consider the classical context
of software development, where IT teams or integrators are solicited to perform
software development. ASDaaS allows a stakeholder, without computer
skills to perform automatic developments from functional requirements, SLA
(Service Level Agreement) requirements, and business rules definition. ASDaaS
promotes the discovery and composition of web services. It is itself composed of
a set of services which can carry out and cover the whole process of software development.
ASDaaS also allows the automatic development on Cloud platforms
of undiscovered services by model transformation. Indeed, for each new development,
a choice of PaaS (Platform as a Service) is performed by matching development
constraints imposed by the stakeholder, with the features and services
offered by the Cloud Platform.


We have reported the presence of N-acetylgalactosamine linked beta 1,4 to galactose on O-linked oligosaccharides of a cloned murine cytotoxic T cell line and the absence of these residues from the O-linked structures of a Vicia villosa lectin-resistant mutant line, VV6, derived from parental B6.1.SF.1 cells (Conzelmann, A., and Kornfeld, S. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 12528-12535). This study shows that B6.1.SF.1 cells contain an enzyme which transfers N-acetylgalactosamine from UDP-GalNAc onto the O-linked tetrasaccharides of human glycophorin A, giving rise to pentasaccharides which contain beta-glycosidically linked N-acetylgalactosamine. Desialylated glycophorin was inactive as an acceptor. The enzyme also transfers N-acetylgalactosamine to the N-linked oligosaccharides of the Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein. This glycoprotein is known to contain N-linked oligosaccharides with beta-linked N-acetylgalactosamine residues which constitute the Sda blood group determinant. This N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase could not be detected in VV6 cells which can account for the lack of beta-linked N-acetylgalactosamine residues on its O-linked oligosaccharides. The two cell lines have comparable levels of UDP-GalNAc:apomucin N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase, demonstrating that the enzyme deficiency in VV6 cells is selective. Both cell lines have a similar glycolipid content, with the major component being asialo-GM1. Since this glycolipid contains N-acetylgalactosamine linked beta 1,4 to galactose, it would appear that the N-acetylgalactosyltransferase involved in the biosynthesis of glycolipids is different from the UDP-GalNAc:glycoprotein N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase. An independently derived murine CTL line also contains the UDP-GalNAc:glycoprotein N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase, suggesting that the expression of this enzyme is a common characteristic of this type of cell line.


Methodological advances now permit human biologists to more effectively monitor energy dynamics in traditional societies. This study examines the nutritional ecology and energetics of semisubsistence herders of Siberia (Evenki) during a single season of their annual cycle (late summer). Total energy expenditure (TEE) among adults, as measured by daily heart‐rate monitoring, is greater in Evenki men (TEE = 11.9 ± 2.8 MJ/d in men and 8.8 ± 2.1 MJ/d in women; P < 0.001), a pattern that reflects the current division of labor under collectivized herding systems. Energy intakes are also greater among men (13.4 ± 5.6 vs. 8.5 ± 3.4 MJ/d; P < 0.01), and are, on average, sufficient to meet daily needs in both sexes. The Evenki appear to be in energy balance at the population level during the late summer (per capita energy intake = 9.0 ± 5.5 MJ/person/d; per capita requirements = 8.6 MJ/person/d); however, only small changes in food availability and/or energy expenditure are necessary to shift the population into negative balance during the winter. Primary sources of dietary energy include reindeer meat and other animal products (25–30%), foraged plant foods (10–15%), and nonlocal products (55–65%), such as flour, rice, and sugar. The anthropometric data indicate that the Evenki grow slowly and have small adult body size. Women are relatively heavier and fatter than men, and show a centripetal pattern of fat distribution. Evenki males appear to be undergoing a secular trend in stature, while no such increases are evident in females. These gender differences may reflect the differential impact to the changes associated with collectivization. Reduced metabolic requirements (due to declining activity and fertility levels), along with greater food availability, are likely to be responsible for the higher rates of obesity among Evenki women. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Mycelia have been recently shown to actively transport polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in water-unsaturated soil over the range of centimeters, thereby efficiently mobilizing hydrophobic PAH beyond their purely diffusive transport in air and water. However, the question if mycelia-based PAH transport has an effect on PAH biodegradation was so far unsolved. To address this, we developed a laboratory model microcosm mimicking air-water interfaces in soil. Chemical analyses demonstrated transport of the PAH fluorene (FLU) by the mycelial oomycete Pythium ultimum that was grown along the air-water interfaces. Furthermore, degradation of mycelia-transported FLU by the bacterium Burkholderia sartisoli RP037-mChe was indicated. Since this organism expresses eGFP in response to a FLU flux to the cell, it was also as a bacterial reporter of FLU bioavailability in the vicinity of mycelia. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and image analyses revealed a significant increase of eGFP expression in the presence of P. ultimum compared to controls without mycelia or FLU. Hence, we could show that physically separated FLU becomes bioavailable to bacteria after transport by mycelia. Experiments with silicon coated glass fibers capturing mycelia-transported FLU guided us to propose a three-step mechanism of passive uptake, active transport and diffusion-driven release. These experiments were also used to evaluate the contributions of these individual steps to the overall mycelial FLU transport rate.


The purpose of this research focuses on international students using an in-depth exploration of service quality in a UK University and to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of one measuring instrument of service quality(namely Higher Education Performance) within a university setting. This scale is advantageous because it examines service quality from a wider point of view; highlighting five dimensions (academic aspects, access, non-academic aspects, reputation and programme issues.A mixed method approach was used for data collection. In the sequence, a quantitative approach was used first by means of a cross-sectional survey. Respondents were drawn from 493 international students at different levels at the University of Huddersfield. Findings from the quantitative method using factor analysis, and principle component analysis, show that on the overall, service service positively influences international students' perception of satisfaction with the school. However, when examined at the individual dimension level, academic aspects, access and reputation were the only dimension of the HEdPERF scale that positively and significantly predicted international students' perception of satisfaction. Non-academic aspects and programme issues were not significant predictors.

To further have an in depth understanding of the results of the quantitative analysis, a qualitative investigation was conducted by means of interviews. Ten interviews were conducted. Findings from the interviews corroborated the results of the quantitative study. Significantly, analysis show that international students had a negative perception of the communication they had with administrative staff of the business school. Results also show that students did not consider some of the programmes offered as relevant. These explain why non-academic and programme issues had negative results from both qualitative and quantitative analysis.Further,longitudinal research is required to consider satisfaction of student and lectures in relation to service quality. Also, Study is needed to be extended to both international and domestic student. And also,a comparative study within UK and other countries been highlighted as a vital aspect in achieving a high-quality service.


This study presents archival sources that shed light on a topic still being discussed by psychiatrists in East Germany: the death of two patients at the Leipzig Department that occurred in 1960 and 1962 under the directorship of Dietfried Müller-Hegemann. These fatalities were supposed to have been induced by obsolete psychotropic drugs and were associated with Ivan Pavlov's hypnotherapy. The incidents were investigated both by highest administrative bodies and the General State Prosecutor of the former GDR. Archival sources suggest that lower party organs and the ministerial administration tried to make use of the proceedings to bring about the downfall of the head of the Leipzig Department, who had become ideologically suspicious. However, the official General State Prosecutor's investigation ascertained that both Müller-Hegemann and Christa Kohler, head of the psychotherapeutic ward, were not to be held responsible. Although the SED Central Committee at first tried to influence the outcome on the basis of ideological reservations made by the university party organisation, it finally accepted and confirmed the judgment of the General State Prosecutor. Hence, in this case, the highest party bodies followed arguments that were the result of an independent investigation and were not influenced by an individual bias or ideological motives.


In this work, the ferroelectric characteristic of a 5 nm Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 (HZO) metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor (MFIS) device is enhanced through strained complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible TiN electrode engineering. Strained TiN top-layer electrodes with different nitrogen (N) concentrations are deposited by adjusting the sputtering process conditions. The TiN electrode with 18% N exhibits a compressive characteristic, which induces tensile stress in a 5 nm HZO film. A device with 18% N in TiN shows a higher remanent polarization (2Pr) and larger capacitance value than the compared sample, indicating that the strained TiN is promising for enhancing the ferroelectricity of sub-5 nm HZO devices.


This paper is an exploration of the respective approaches of Pierre Bourdieu and Jacques Ranciere to education, specifically the question, whether education has a significant 'effect' or influence on social inequality. Bourdieu's work is presented in terms of his well-known and related concepts of cultural capital and habitus, where the latter is understood as a largely unconscious cultural predisposition or attitude that is the result of cultivation as a function of cultural capital, that is, the symbolic-cultural manifestation of distinctive class taste. It is argued that, although Bourdieu is critical of inequality in French society, his research has shown that it is endemic to that society, and that education, which begins at home and continues through school to university – including 'ordinary' universities as well as the prestigious 'grand ecoles' of France – is the main mediating institution in the establishment, reinforcement and legitimation of social inequality in the highly stratified French society. In contrast to Bourdieu's work, which seems to be unable to move beyond the description and theorisation of a society that is (apparently irredeemably) characterised by inequality, for Ranciere equality may be approached as an 'hypothesis' in need of confirmation, and there are several strategies to pursue this, one of which is to adopt the principle of 'ignorance' on the part of the teacher, in order to demonstrate the ability of students to 'teach themselves' once they have the requisite material – a reference to Joseph Jacotot, who adopted this approach in 19 th -century France, with unexpectedly affirmative results. Furthermore, Ranciere criticises Bourdieu for supplying the means to 'distribute the sensible' in a hierarchical manner, effectively excluding workers from the 'polis', on the grounds that they do not share the capacity of 'logos' with other citizens (such as the elites). Ranciere therefore claims that Bourdieu simply accepts the immutability of hierarchical class divisions in society. The usefulness of these two thinkers' work for education in South Africa is explored in this paper.    https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.82.1.2315


SPSS is enormously powerful – and challenging to learn. This popular handbook lets students get hands on with the statistical procedures they need. Screen shots, step-by-step guidance and examples with annotated outputs help students learn. For students of psychology, marketing and research in any discipline. An essential practical guide to using SPSS.


Heat-shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones that are highly conserved between species. In recent decades it has become clear that these proteins play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and degenerative joint diseases by (dys)regulating the immune system and by direct effects on the stromal tissues of the joint. In this review we discuss current insights into the expression pattern of HSPs in connective tissues, the direct biological role of HSPs in stromal tissues and the potential clinical applications.


Objectives To compare serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in patients with peripheral neuropathy and patients without neuropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and study the relation between nerve conduction studies of motor and sensory nerves and the serum level of TNF-α in T2DM. Background TNF-α presence in the serum of diabetic patients can be used as an indicator for the development of neuropathy with nerve conduction studies. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in diagnosed T2DM patients. They were divided into two groups: group I (n = 40) with clinically detectable diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) of shorter duration and group II (n = 40) with clinically detectable DPN of longer duration. They were compared with patients without clinical neuropathy (n = 40); clinical diagnosis was based on Neurologic Severity Score (NSS) and National Disability Services (NDS) for signs. Blood samples were collected for the estimation of serum TNF-α. Nerve conduction velocity was measured in the upper and lower limbs. Median, ulnar, common peroneal, and posterior tibial nerves were selected for motor nerve conduction study and median and sural nerves were selected for sensory nerve conduction study. Results The serum level of TNF-α in type 2 diabetic patients with peripheral neuropathy is higher than those without neuropathy. The serum level of TNF-α shows statistically significant negative correlation with nerve conduction velocities which is higher in type 2 diabetic patients (5–10 years duration) with peripheral neuropathy. Conclusion A high level of TNF-α in the serum of T2DM patients with neuropathy shows possible contribution in the development of neuropathy. This cytokine might be used as a biomarker for DPN.


Model-based engineering (MBE) is a software development approach in which abstraction via modeling is used as the primary mechanism for managing the complexity of software-based systems. An effective approach to software development must be supported by effective technologies (i.e., languages, methods, processes, tools). The wide range of development tasks that effective MBE approaches must support leads to two possible tooling scenarios. In the first scenario a federated collection of tools is used to support system development. Each tool in the collection provides specialized services. Tool interoperability and consistency of information across the tools are major concerns in this scenario. These concerns are typically addressed using transformations and exposed tool interfaces. Defining and evolving the transformations and interfaces requires detailed low-level knowledge of the tools and thus leads to complex tooling environments that are difficult to configure, learn, use, and evolve. In the second scenario, a single tool is used to support the complete modeling lifecycle. This avoids the inter-tool transformation and consistency problems, but the resulting multi-featured tool is a monolithic entity that is costly to develop and evolve. Furthermore, the large number of non-trivial features can make learning and using such tools difficult. Successful uptake of MDE in industry requires supporting tools to be, at least, useful and usable. From a tool developer's perspective, there is also a need to significantly reduce the cost and effort required to develop and evolve complex MBE tools. This seminar brings together experts in the areas of MBE, meta-modeling, tool development, and human-computer interactions to map out a research agenda that lays a foundation for the development of effective MBE tools. Such a foundation will need to support not only interoperability of tools or tool features, but also the implementation of high quality MBE tools. The long-term objective is to foster a research community that will work on a foundation that can be expressed in the form of standard tool (meta-)models that capture and leverage high quality reusable MBE tool development experience. Seminar 28. April–03. May, 2013 – www.dagstuhl.de/13182 1998 ACM Subject Classification D.2 Software Engineering, H.1 Models and Principles


Medial axes are known to be very sensitive to shape irregularities. In this paper, we develop a solution to compute a stable medial axis of noisy discrete shapes. It introduces a parameter up to which a deformation (noise) of the shape is considered irrelevant, and thus ignored in the discrete Euclidian Medial Axis computation. We show the linearity property of the proposed algorithm and compare it with two recent state of the art methods: The Gamma Integer Medial Axis and the Discrete Linear Lambda Medial Axis using a single pruning parameter. Based on Kimia's database (216 binary images), we present comparative experimental results with respect to skeletonization quality, noise sensitivity and computation time.


Abstract At any set of thermodynamic conditions a mineral will have some well defined equilibrium crystal structure. However, this structure can be locally disturbed by crystal defects, such as domain walls or solute atoms. This distorted structure will only affect a finite volume within the crystal, but the need to retain continuity within the crystal means that this volume must be non-zero. This means, for example, that the boundary between two domains will include a transition zone from one domain's crystal structure to that of the other domain. Thick twin domain walls can be studied quantitatively, by measuring the intensity of diffuse diffraction between pairs of twin-related Bragg peaks. In alkali feldspar (Or30) at room temperature, these walls are approximately 25 Å thick. Similarly, a single solute atom in a mineral will only affect a small region within a crystal. As a result, chemical mixing will only occur in a substitutional solid solution once there is significant overlap between the strain fields around individual solute atoms. This causes the 'plateau effect', where the properties of a phase transition are independent of composition. In alkali feldspar, this plateau extends from albite to 2% Or, which corresponds to a strain field radius of 10 Å. These phenomena can be modelled using Ginzburg-Landau theory, which predicts that the range of these strain fields will increase as the temperature is raised to Tc. This has been confirmed by measuring the thickness of twin walls as a function of temperature.


We explored the perspectives of school-based educators located in Victoria, Australia, regarding their support of students who have reading difficulties. An anonymous survey was completed by 523 participants, including educators, educational leaders and Student Support Services staff. Results revealed multiple areas of concern related to their capacity to work on reading intervention with these students. Although participants reported that students with reading difficulties were present in most classes, confidence to work effectively with these students was mixed. They described feeling poorly prepared by preservice programs and indicated that insufficient time and mentorship prevented them from serving these students optimally. As a group, they privileged many approaches that align with best practice for struggling readers, such as explicit instruction, but perceived that such practices are not always feasible to implement. Support was also strong for practices considered non-evidence-based, such as adhering to students' preferred 'learning-style'. Recommendations for school-based practice, with a specific focus on students with reading difficulties, are made.


Almost 20 years after the influential article was published in McKinsey Quarterly, the "War for Talent" continues to be waged. In fact, winning the competition to recruit and retain high potential young talent is more important than ever. Unfortunately, there is little consensus on what companies need to do in order to be successful in attracting and keeping these employees. One strategy some companies have used is to open satellite offices. Numerous articles have been published recently about companies that have decided to move the location of at least some part of their operations into or nearby major metropolitan centers in order to increase the size of the talent pool from which to recruit. These include many of the biggest names in business; S.C. Johnson, Kraft Heinz, Google/Motorola, and McDonald's to name just a few. However, it has yet to be determined if this will result in long term benefits in recruitment and retention. Before making drastic changes, a systematic review of the factors involved from the perspectives of both candidates and organizations is important before revising a firm's strategy in this regard. A special consideration will be to understand how these factors, including those that revolve around the location of the company, can inform the firm's recruitment and retention strategy.


Our aims were to (1) determine how interdigital skin temperature (IST), measured using infrared thermography, was associated with different stages of digital dermatitis (DD) lesions and (2) develop and validate models that can use IST measurements to identify cows with an active DD lesion. Between March 2019 and March 2020, infrared thermographic images of hind feet were taken from 2,334 Holstein cows across 4 farms. We recorded the maximum temperature reading from infrared thermographic images of the interdigital skin between the heel bulbs on the hind feet. Pregnant animals were enrolled approximately 1 to 2 mo precalving, reassessed 1 wk after calving, and again at approximately 50 to 100 d postpartum. At these time points, IST and the clinical stage of DD (M-stage scoring system: M1-M4.1) were recorded in addition to other data such as the ambient environmental temperature, height, body condition score, parity, and the presence of other foot lesions. A mixed effect linear regression model with IST as the dependent variable was fitted. Interdigital skin temperature was associated with DD lesions; compared to healthy feet, IST was highest in feet with M2 lesions, followed by M1 and M4.1 lesions. Subsequently, the capacity of IST measurements to detect the presence or absence of an active DD lesion (M1, M2, or M4.1) was explored by fitting logistic regression models, which were tested using 10-fold validation. A mixed effect logistic regression model with the presence of active DD as the dependent variable was fitted first. The average area under the curve for this model was 0.80 when its ability to detect presence of active DD was tested on 10% of the data that were not used for the model's training; an average sensitivity of 0.77 and an average specificity of 0.67 was achieved. This model was then restricted so that only explanatory variables that could be practically recorded in a nonresearch, external setting were included. Validation of this model demonstrated an average area under the curve of 0.78, a sensitivity of 0.88, and a specificity of 0.66 for 1 of the time points (precalving). Lower sensitivity and specificity were achieved for the other 2 time points. Our study adds further evidence to the relationship between DD and foot skin temperature using a large data set with multiple measurements per animal. Additionally, we highlight the potential for infrared thermography to be used for routine on-farm diagnosis of active DD lesions.


Co-feeding an inert
and site-selective chemical titrant provides desirable selectivity tuning when titrant
adsorption is favored over side reaction pathways on a solid acid catalyst.
Here, a selectivity enhancement from 61 to 84 C % was demonstrated for methyl
lactate dehydration to methyl acrylate and acrylic acid over NaY zeolite
catalyst using amines as the co-fed titrants to suppress side reactions on in
situ generated Brønsted acid sites (BAS). The effectiveness of BAS titration
was evaluated by considering both the basicity and steric properties of the
titrant molecule with the goal to maximize the selectivity enhancement. The
presence of electron-donating alkyl functional groups enhances amine basicity
but also introduces additional steric constraints to the molecule with respect
to the pore dimensions of the NaY zeolite. While higher basicity of titrant
amines favors stronger adsorption on BAS, steric limitations hinder site
binding through contributions from internal diffusion limitations and local
steric repulsion between titrant and the zeolite wall around the BAS. Titrant
bases with proton affinities above ~1040 kJ/mol and sizes below 85% of the NaY
supercage window or pore diameter are predicted to afford dehydration
selectivities above 90 C % to acrylate products.


Early physical therapy rehabilitation protocols have shown improved functional outcomes and a reduction in mortality rates. Virtual rehabilitation (VR) has allowed practitioners to provide safe treatment without any risk of viral contamination. This review aimed to evaluate the importance of physical therapy and rehabilitation during and after the infection of coronavirus (COVID-19). To do so, four electronic databases such as PubMed, ResearchGate, Science Direct, and Google Scholars were searched to retrieve articles published after the out-breaks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six studies were included in the final review. It is a compilation and exami-nation of physical therapy treatments provided by various hospitals and organizations during and after CO-VID-19. The present review throws light on physical therapy, going hand in hand with VR, to play a promising role in patients with mild to moderate symptoms, thus improving their quality of life. The necessary references, as well as the statistics gathered from the published articles, are available. A total of 12 046 patients were included. Of the total patients, 3085 (25.6%) had fatigue symptoms and 1866 (15.5%) had arthralgia/myalgia. Within an hour of being in the prone position, patients were found to have an increase in the oxygen saturation (SpO 2 ) level from 94% to 98%. The pace of breathing also improved, dropping from 31 to 22 per minute. Physical therapy and VR have improved daily activities while assisting in the recovery of health, lifestyle, and lowering post-illness physical and mental deficiencies. ABSTRACT


A central issue of globalisation research is the question whether globalisation leads to the convergence of policies or whether domestic responses to global challenges remain strongly influenced by existing domestic structures. In the field of environmental policy, there is some analysis of the diffusion of policy innovations, but there is a lack of systematic knowledge as to whether this leads to policy convergence at a broad scale. To what extent does environmental policy convergence take place? The analysis of policy development uses a data-set covering 22 different environmental policy measures in 24 OECD countries from 1970 to 2005. It reveals increases in the similarity of individual policies across countries, in the homogeneity of their policy repertoires and, particularly, in the strictness of regulations, as well as processes of catching-up and overtaking among countries.


In the context of manufacturing defects, our interest is the calculation methodologies that are used to quantify these defects. The manufacturing defects can be divided into two categories: machining defects and positioning defects. A double measurement method is principally used to quantify separately machining and positioning defect. The first measurement is operated inside a machine tool just after the final cutting step. The second measurement is realised outside of the machine tool (e.g. on a coordinate measuring machine - CMM). However, data processing method and precision between two different machines are different. Consequently, the measurement results obtained from these machines may be not comparable to quantify precisely the manufacturing defects. Several solutions are proposed and analysed in this paper to estimate comparable capability of the measurement results obtained by the two different measurement means


We evaluate the impact of corporate governance on the valuation of firms in a large cross-section of countries. Unlike previous work, we differentiate between minimally accepted governance attributes that are satisfied by all firms in a given country and governance attributes that are adopted at the firm level. This approach allows us to differentiate between firm-level and country-level corporate governance, thus contributing to an ongoing debate in the literature about whether governance attributes are largely determined by country factors or firm characteristics. Despite the costs associated with improving corporate governance at the firm level, we find that many firms choose to adopt governance provisions beyond those that are adopted by all firms in the country, and that these improvements in corporate governance are positively associated with firm valuation. Firms that choose not to adopt sound governance mechanisms tend to have concentrated ownership and sizeable free cash flow, consistent with agency theories based on self-interested managers and controlling shareholders. Our results indicate that the market rewards companies that are prepared to adopt governance attributes beyond those required by laws and common corporate practices in the home country.


We present results of ab initio molecular dynamics study of the structural transformation occurring in hot liquid sulfur under high pressure, which corresponds to the recently observed chain-breakage phenomenon and to the electronic transition reported earlier. The transformation is temperature-induced and separates two distinct polymeric forms of liquid sulfur: high-temperature form composed of short chain-like fragments with open endings and low-temperature form with very long chains. We offer a structural description of the two liquid forms in terms of chain lengths, cross-linking, and chain geometry and investigate several physical properties. We conclude that the transformation is accompanied by changes in energy (but not density) as well as in diffusion coefficient and electronic properties—semiconductor-metal transition. We also describe the analogy of the investigated process to similar phenomena that take place in two other chalcogens selenium and tellurium. Finally, we remark that the behavior of heated liquid sulfur at ambient pressure might indicate a possible existence of a critical point in the low-pressure region of sulfur phase diagram.


Summary Background: Splenic rupture is a potentially life-threatening condition, often associated with chest or abdominal trauma. Spontaneous rupture is very rare and is usually reported as being secondary to underlying pathological conditions. Case Report: We discuss the case of a 56 year old man who presented with sudden onset left-sided abdominal pain, with no history of trauma. Conclusions: A computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen revealed a ruptured spleen with free fluid in the abdomen. Conservative management was ineffective and the patient underwent laparotomy and splenectomy, followed by routine post-splenectomy management. He was discharged home and remains well.


In Chile, the main factor in red clover {Trifolium pretense L.) stand decline is fusarium-root rot, which results in a reduction in yield. Fusarium oxysporum (Schlect.) is the most prevalent pathogen recovered from diseased red clover roots plants. Agronomical management of red clover includes application of broadleaf herbicides such as MCPA and bentazon. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of bentazon and bentazon/MCPA mixture on phytotoxicity and root rot as caused by F. oxysporum on red clover, under greenhouse conditions. In addition, in vitro mycelial growth and conidial germination of F. oxysporum was studied. A reduction of 40% in crown diameter and 57% shoot dry weight was observed 30 days after treatment with a high rate of bentazon/MCPA and F. oxysporum inoculum. The bentazon - F. oxysporum interaction reduced root dry weight by 57% at IX rate and 42% with 2X rate at 20 and 30 of evaluation. Bentazon caused a significant increase in phytotoxicity at the high rate and the mixture bentazon/MCPA increased root rot severity and phytotoxicity at the high rate. The conidial germination and mycelial growth were significantly reduced by bentazon/MCPA. These results suggest that red clover growth and persistence could be adversely affected by F. oxysporum after bentazon and bentazon/MCPA application.


Models for topological quantum computation are based on braiding and fusing anyons (quasiparticles of fractional statistics) in (2+1)-D. The anyons that can exist in a physical theory are determined by the symmetry group of the Hamiltonian. In the case that the Hamiltonian undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking of the full symmetry group G to a finite residual gauge group H, particles are given by representations of the quantum double $D(H)$ of the subgroup. The quasi-triangular Hopf Algebra D(H) is obtained from Drinfeld's quantum double construction applied to the algebra F(H) of functions on the finite group H.
A major new contribution of this work is a program written in MAGMA to compute the particles (and their properties - including spin) that can exist in a system with an arbitrary finite residual gauge group, in addition to the braiding and fusion rules for those particles. We compute explicitly the fusion rules for two non-abelian group doubles suggested for universal quantum computation: $S_3$ and $A_5$, and discover some interesting results, subsystems, and symmetries in the tables. SO(3)_4 (the restriction of Chern-Simons theory $SU(2)_4$) and its mirror image are discovered as 3-particle subsystems in the 8-particle $S_3$ quantum double. The tables demonstrate that both $S_3$ and $A_5$ anyons are all Majorana, but this is not the case for all finite groups. In the appendices, the quantum doubles for the remaining nonabelian subgroups of SO(3) - $S_4$, $A_4$, and $D_4$ (the second in the infinite family $D_n$) - are tabulated and analyzed. In addition, the probabilities of obtaining any given fusion product in quantum computation applications are determined and programmed in MAGMA. Throughout, connections to possible experiments are mentioned.


The study aimed to explore the process of auditing the statement of cash flows by auditors of Jordanian public listed companies. In doing so, it used a structured questionnaire that surveyed the views of auditors who work for audit firms that audit the financial statements of Jordanian public listed companies. In particular, auditors were asked about the importance of the statement of cash flows for their audit and their opinion on the financial statements, the extent of their auditing of detailed components of the statement of cash flows, and their use of specific financial ratios related to the statement of cash flows in predicting the company's continuance as a going concern. Findings of the study suggest that auditors of Jordanian public listed companies do generally recognize the importance of the statement of cash flows and do generally audit many detailed items of the statement in its operational, investment, and financial sections, and do use financial ratios that employ cash flow measures to evaluate the company's going concern hypothesis. However, the level of such perceived importance and use of audit procedures was reported as being relatively limited, an issue that raises questions over the quality of such audits and the awareness of auditors as to the importance of auditing the statement of cash flows.


Due to the material properties and process applicability, laser cladding of Inconel® 625 is ought to have applications in the aerospace and deep-sea pipeline coating. This study background refers to the second application; thus, only single clad layers are presented. The focus is the comparison of layers made with wire and powder feeding laser cladding strategies. Processes suitability regarding application will be pondered over, while characterizing Inconel® 625 depositions and considering process characteristics. In a first step, the analysis considers a comparison between both cladding methods, operating within assumptions and a similar range of main parameters. After inferring from these results, the achieved knowledge is used to adjust settings on the second step, where both processes are optimized individually. Clad quality is evaluated regarding to geometry through optical microscopy, dilution percentage and chemical composition in different positions in the clad are analysed by EDS and substrate-to-clad hardness is measured.


In today's society, an incredible amount of systems include an authentication process
before a user can access requested services ranging from logging into a computer
system or webpage, gaining access to secure buildings, or performing online
operations. Authentication has become the foundation that every secure system is
built upon. In the last few years, authentication systems based on biometrics have
been gaining ground at the expense of other methods. It seems that biometrics
provides the solution to ensure that services are accessed only by a legitimate user
and no one else.
This report studies the use of haptics as a new approach to authentication. The
project describes the design and implementation of a new two-factor authentication
system. First, tactile feelings provided by a haptic touchscreen are used to create a
personal sensations code. Next, a force sensor is used as a mechanism to extract
behavioural features that define a biometric verification system. In order to access
the system is not enough to introduce just the right sensations, which itself is difficult
to duplicate, but it must match the authentic user's features.
With the purpose of testing this new idea, two experiments were conducted. The first
experiment was designed to test the capability of human minds to successfully
remember tactile feelings. The second experiment was engineered to test the
capability of the system to verify users from their force signatures.
After subjecting several volunteers to these experiments, results were conclusive that
the human mind is capable of remembering tactile sensations despite the need for
some training in some cases. It was also demonstrated that a distinctive biometric
feature could be extracted from a force signature, although the verification algorithm
presented in this report is just a first approximation to this possibility. This reports
concludes by suggesting options to improve the algorithm and enhance the tactile
authentication system.


New anti-AIDS treatments must be continually developed in order to overcome resistance mutations including those emerging in the newest therapeutic target, the viral integrase (IN). Multimerization of IN is functionally imperative and provides a forthcoming therapeutic target. Allosteric inhibitors of IN bind to non-catalytic sites and prevent correct multimerization not only restricting viral integration but also the assembly and maturation of viral particles. Here, we report an allosteric inhibitor peptide targeting an unexploited SH3-docking platform of retroviral IN. The crystal structure of the peptide in complex with the HIV-1 IN core domain reveals a steric interference that would inhibit conserved docking of SH3-containing domain with the core domain vital for IN multimerization, providing a template for the development of novel anti-IN allosteric inhibitors.


: An outbreak of influenza associated with increased absenteeism among school-age children occurred during May and June 1975 in Tapei, Taiwan. The virus strain has recently been shown to be antigenically similar to A/Victoria/3/75 which is now active in other areas of the Pacific.


A new species of lanternshark, Etmopterus sculptus (Squaliformes: Etmopteridae), is described from southern Africa. The new species closely resembles other members of the ''Etmopterus lucifer'' group, especially the western North Pacific E. brachyurus, in having linear rows of dermal denticles. The new species is fairly common along the upper continental slopes between Namibia and southern Mozambique at depths between 450 and 900 m. The new species can be distinguished from other members of the E. lucifer species complex by a combination of characteristics, including arrangement of flank and caudal markings, and shape, size, and arrangement of dermal denticles along the body.


Five axis machine tools are increasing and becoming more popular as customers demand more complex machined parts. In high value manufacturing, the importance of machine tools in producing high accuracy products is essential. High accuracy manufacturing requires producing parts in a repeatable manner and precision in compliance to the defined design specifications. The performance of the machine tools is often affected by geometrical errors due to a variety of causes including incorrect tool offsets, errors in the centres of rotation and thermal growth. As a consequence, it can be difficult to produce highly accurate parts consistently. It is, therefore, essential to ensure that machine tools are verified in terms of their geometric and positioning accuracy. When machine tools are verified in terms of their accuracy, the resulting numerical values of positional accuracy and process capability can be used to define design for verification rules and algorithms so that machined parts can be easily produced without scrap and little or no after process measurement. In this paper the benefits of machine tool verification are listed and a case study is used to demonstrate the implementation of robust machine tool performance measurement and diagnostics using a ballbar system.


The goals of the research efforts described in this paper were (1) to establish a rational technique for the selection of the visual properties of architectural surfaces and (2) to determine the psychophysical relationships between objective measurements of surfaces and their psychological meaning. Respondents rated samples of architectural surfaces (brick surfaces varying in size, texture, and color) and design concepts (home, prison, etc.) on a series of bipolar adjective scales selected to measure the meaning of the object on the three commonly identified dimensions of connotative meaning-the evaluative, potency, and activity dimensions (the semantic differential technique). The validity and reliability of this application of the semantic differential were assessed and found to be satisfactory. Since each rated object receives a score on each of the three dimensions and can be localized as a point in three-dimensional semantic space, one can obtain quantitative differences between the connotative meaning of diverse objects. A rational technique for the selection of the visual properties of architectural surfaces would involve selecting surfaces whose meaning matched the meaning of the design concept. Psychophysical relationships were obtained between the meaning of the visual properties of the surfaces on each of the dimensions of connotative meaning and physical measurements of the surfaces. Several of these relationships indicated an association between the physical and psychological aspects of the surfaces. Hence, it is probable that surfaces could be manufactured which would permit one to obtain a close match between the meaning of the surfaces and the meaning of design concepts. The results of these preliminary studies indicate that further research on the connotative meaning of visual properties of surfaces is warranted.


Invasive infections by Achromobacter denitrificans in people who are immunocompromised may be fatal. Most infections develop during stay in hospitals with primary uncomplicated bacteremia, pneumonia and catheter-associated infections being particularly frequent presentations. The prevalence rate of A. xylosoxidans has increased in recent years. We present a unique case of Achromobacter denitrificans causing an infection progressing to a pancreatic pseudocyst in an immunocompetant adult man.


Built environment is determined by outside climate condition. There are a lot of important factors that influence building energy consumption such as building shape coefficient, insulation work of building envelope, covered area, and the area ratio of window to wall. In order to determine how building energy efficiency works in different climate zones, the variation rule of some aggregative indicators and building energy efficiency rates were analyzed by dynamic simulation. The results show that energy conservation potential which is brought by the decrease of builidng shape coefficient is the largest in hot summer and cold winter zone such as Shanghai, and the effect is mainly brought by insulation measures added to exterior walls.


This report deals with an unusual case of hemiballismus in which the jerky, choreiform movements of the left side of the body (hemichorea) persisted in violent form for seven weeks prior to death. For the control of these abnormal movements various drugs were administered, including stramonium and curare. The treatment with curare was deemed advisable in order to check the ballistic movements. A record of the movements was preserved in a moving picture. The case was of such clinical and therapeutic interest that at the time of death an autopsy was secured. It was a surprise not to find a lesion in the subthalamic nucleus of Luys as was anticipated, since lesions of this nucleus have been reported in other cases of hemiballismus. However, a sizable perivascular lesion was observed in the anterior part of the lateral segment of the right pallidum and the neighboring part of the internal capsule


Norcem limestone quarry at Bjorntvedt has neighbours and infrastructure close to the quarry. Elimination of the risk of flyrock from blasting is thus of great importance to the operation. For drill hole dimension 3,5? ? as used at Bjorntvedt -the risk zone of flyrock is considered to be between 600 and 700 m from the blast. It is recommended to cover the blast if there are sensitive installations or people inside this radius. If no cover is used, adequate alternative preventive measures must be documented. The guidelines recommend that the first row of drill holes is surveyed to control the distance to the bench front, prevent too high specific charges and to detect joints and weak zones. Bjorntvedt has documented drilling and blasting procedures in place to prevent flyrock. These procedures do not at present include surveying of drill holes/face wall or covering of the blast. The master thesis will use the 6 sigma methodology to analyse the problem of flyrock risk elimination at Bjorntvedt. The thesis will include a description of the problem, the current procedures and the blasting results with respect to flyrock.